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Our View
This idyllic country prep is the gold-standard educational package. Co-ed, close to London and with elite senior school horizons, Lambrook is consistently good. What other schools might shape entire prospectuses around become just another detail here: the gorgeous swimming pool, the nine-hole golf course, the orchard, the animals – all get lost in a daze of academic excellence, homegrown honey and West End talent. Lambrook offers the very best blend, with traditional English prep values meeting stonking-good facilities and genuine childhood fun. The school says they give children the ‘feathers to fly’; we say they help them soar.
Where is Lambrook?
Set in prime Home Counties commuter territory, trotting distance from Ascot racecourse and surrounded by very expensive real estate, Lambrook’s 52 acres of Berkshire grounds are a real pull for London parents: the Big Smoke is a 40-minute zip down the M4.
It’s pretty bucolic: we spotted children cartwheeling on the croquet lawn, racing around with cricket bats and climbing trees, sporting proper rosy cheeks and a healthy outdoorsy glow. The outdoor learning area and orchard have beautiful raised beds for growing veg, and pupils beetle around tending to their beehives and rabbits in the dedicated petting farm.
The school is anchored around a pristine, grand white country house, with Lambrook nursery and pre-prep all within the well-kept grounds. Some 18 staff members live on site including the chaplain, his wife (who kindly gave us a jar of Lambrook honey) and most of the senior leadership team.
Headmaster at Lambrook School
The utterly charming head of Lambrook Jonathan Perry and his wife Jenny are quite the double act – and rank as one of the most hospitable, interested and interesting couples we’ve come across on our school visits (and there have been many!). With their warmth and real family values rippling through the school, they’re fantastic role models for the children.
They’ve been here for well over a decade, but Mr Perry still has the passion to excel, and we cannot but approve of his relentless, onward spirit (new building works are on the horizon). But, impressive as his big picture stuff is, he never lets it distract from the basics: he knows every child properly (lots of schools pay lip service to this, but we saw it in action), and, along with the whole senior leadership team, chats to parents each morning at drop-off – a great way to nip any niggles in the bud. Parental partnerships are absolutely vital, and his constant reassurance to parents that they will ‘hold hands on the journey together’ generates a transformative level of trust. Staff praise his ‘incredible leadership’, and pupils totally adore him. ‘If I need anything, I just talk to Mr Perry,’ one new arrival reassured his mother, whilst another pupil we met told us that ‘Mr Perry’s main message is to be kind and that’s why I love it here’. We think that says it all.
What is the admissions process like at Lambrook?
It’s no wonder that this is a popular place, with locals and Londoners all queuing up for a slice of the Lambrook pie – and registrations are surging, with waiting lists in all year groups. They’re not just looking for academic superstars, but for pupils (and indeed families) who are prepared to try lots of new things and really get the most out of what Lambrook has to offer. As well as Reception, other key entry points are Year 3, Year 4 and Year 7 (10 to 12 new pupils always join in Year 7), with children sitting age-appropriate assessments including a group interview, team-building exercises and papers in maths, English and non-verbal reasoning to rootle out potential and check that they can handle the curriculum further up the school. Parents also meet with the Perrys to help build up an all-important rapport. For pre-prep entry, all children come in for a taster day.
The
Lambrook Foundation continues to be a big focus, raising a staggering amount annually to help widen access to the school through a number of transformative bursaries.
Academics and senior school destinations
It’s the staff that make Lambrook School: a wonderful mix of young, vibrant talent and traditional schoolmasters. There are two sets of siblings on the staff list, and a tangible sense of teamwork – whether that’s in the staff room or as a member of the staff netball team. Strong academics underpin the whole operation here, but not at the expense of pupil wellbeing; one mother told us her daughter ‘hardly knew she was sitting her exams’ – despite a 100 per cent pass rate at CE.
Nursery children benefit from Little Barn’s bright and free flow facilities (the old nursery site has become an extension of the boys' boarding house). The curriculum is wonderfully creative, with pupils recently going on a knight’s quest inspired by the books they’d been reading.
From Year 5 up, lessons become six days a week (‘beware the dreaded early-morning Saturday starts,’ a parent warns), with the tempo taking a leap too – expect lots of extended learning such as current affairs and Saturday Series Talks. All pupils in Years 5-8 have their own laptop to use in lessons.
Lambrook is very much a 13+ prep school, and the school hardly loses anyone at the end of Year 6. Mr Perry is mind-bogglingly clued up on senior schools and several parents told us that they really rated his invaluable advice. The average cohort heads off to around 35 different senior schools - here, it is all about the right school for the right child, and destination schools include
Wellington College,
Eton College,
Marlborough,
Charterhouse,
Downe House and
Teddies in Oxford. Scholarship hauls are jolly good too.
Co-curricular at Lambrook
Artwork was quite literally spilling out of the busy studio during our visit, and the school hosts two art and D&T exhibitions every year, popular with parents but also designed to teach children the ‘life skill’ of attending exhibitions and critically appraising art. Drama – which takes place in the Diamond Jubilee Performing Arts Centre – is soaring, and on our recent visit, there was much excited chatter about the Year 8 production of
Oliver! At the end of the lent term, all children get involved in a performing arts week run by external judges (last year one was an actress from
Wicked) – and if you think that’s impressive, it’s not just the teachers who have West End fame: several pupils have gone on to perform on the national stage during their time at Lambrook.
Music is a major part of school life too (we were lucky enough to listen in on a lovely Harvest choir rehearsal), with pretty much everyone learning an instrument, whether that be the harp, the bagpipes or anything in-between. There are 700 lessons a week, six full-time staff members, three pop groups, seven choirs and five string groups. Plus, the senior chapel choir has gained legendary status on the prep-school circuit, performing both at Lambrook and further afield.
There’s a real sporty streak here, adding to Lambrook’s appeal to fresh-air-deprived townies. Facilities are top-notch, with an immaculate cedar-clad swimming pool (often loaned out to local state schools, with Lambrook staff running free swimming lessons), pitches galore and two Astros surfaced in Lambrook blue. There are indoor cricket nets and a nine-hole golf course (parents often pop by to sneak in a round; more formally, there’s a golf medal awarded once a term), and the vibe is fully inclusive – they’ll often field a D team or beyond at matches so everyone gets a go. Years 7 and 8 join forces for sport, which as well as being a great chance for pupils to form inter-year friendships, also gives the really sporty ones the opportunity to properly stretch themselves.
Rugby is thriving, cricket and football are refreshingly compulsory for girls and there’s some hockey, netball and tennis thrown in for good measure. But just in case pupils have a hankering to try something new, enrichment and after school clubs push the sporting boundaries to encompass skiing, polo, fencing, judo, trampolining (a big favourite) and dance. Wednesday afternoons make way for matches and there’s always a very vocal parent fan club on the sidelines. Anything to do with the legendary match teas, we wonder? And the best bit? All sports kit is laundered on site, so pupils never have to bring muddy clobber home. It’s a total godsend for frazzled parents.
Once lessons are done and dusted, it’s time for muddy-kneed fun. Pupils learn to forage for food and build shelters in the grounds; collect apples from the allotment or eggs for breakfast; hunt for newts in the pond; and don beekeeper’s hats to get to work on the next batch of Lambrook honey (make sure you pick up a pot on your visit). Then there are the clubs, like polo, skiing, public speaking and mini MasterChef. ‘You can feel the fun everywhere,’ says one mother. And she’s right.
Boarding at Lambrook
Boarding is popular – there are just over 100 beds on offer for children aged seven and upwards, and they are ‘pretty much full every night’– but there’s much more of a flexi vibe here than at some other preps. Everything’s done on a super parent-friendly basis: children can stay over for anything from the odd night to five a week. Almost everyone gives it a go at some stage (great preparation for senior school), and considering all the prep is done in school hours, we’re not surprised: boarding is all about fun – though lights are always off by 9pm.
There are two boarding houses; Lambrook House for girls and the newly updated Westfield for boys, complete with table tennis, pool, table football and a cosy kitchen for making top-up toasties. The dorms are big, with 16 beds in the boys' Year 8 dorm, which the pupils are gradually making their own. It’s worth knowing that pupils move beds all the time, so they don’t have their own dedicated spot in the house – but no one seems to mind. Weekends are spent at home; everyone heads off after chapel and matches on a Saturday.
We love the lack of tech in the school – life here is all about keeping busy, so no one notices the lack of a PlayStation or their mobile phones (there’s a strict no phones policy here). Bedtimes are well structured, and staff tell us that most children are asleep before their heads hit the pillow.
School community at Lambrook
The Perrys are seriously clued up on the importance of emotional wellbeing, and pastoral care here is second-to-none. We chatted to pupils of all ages whose pride in Lambrook was palpable – and there certainly wasn’t even an ounce of arrogance or sense of entitlement among them. Head of pastoral, Ed Marland has made a big impression and pupils we met told us how well equipped they felt in dealing with friendship issues and the like – there’s a wellbeing hub and pupils have access to ‘so many platforms’ from which to receive advice. The school also has its own medical centre and counsellor, plus two fully trained and totally adored therapy dogs, Orla and Biscoff. Mrs Perry is a big fan of the ‘Swiss cheese’ analogy, reassuring parents and children that with the many layers of pastoral support in place here, it’s impossible for there to be a hole all the way through. Every single child has their person and every single member of staff has the pupils’ best interests at heart. Pupils certainly feel this, with one telling us, ‘It’s very kind here if you are worried.’
The Lambrook Foundation’s work doesn’t stop at bursaries – it also provides charitable support of a school overseas, and is continuing to grow its meaningful support of local schools whose pupils are regularly hosted for history, science or sports days, collected by a Lambrook minibus and welcomed with a hearty breakfast.
What Lambrook offers London parents is second to none; pupils can hop on one of the buses leaving from Brook Green or Chiswick first thing in the morning (there are currently nine routes running to and from the school gates), enjoy all the spoils of a country education and then arrive back home in time for supper. Others hail from a burgeoning catchment area including Ascot, Henley, Marlow and Windsor; a dynamic cross-section of bankers, doctors, teachers and TV personalities. Some don’t even look at the fees; others work jolly hard to send their children here and they’re a highly sociable bunch with reps co-ordinating WhatsApp groups and hosting termly drinks parties. But regardless of background, parents all feel really involved in the school community – and that’s not just on the golf course. There’s even a dedicated parents’ balcony in the chapel, so they can be part of the weekly services too. Recently, 65 parents managed to raise a staggering £200k through their sponsored cycle to Paris, while another big fundraiser involved a sponsored walk from Big Ben.
And finally...
Lambrook isn’t just about results, facilities or glittering senior school destinations; it’s also about creating the kind of childhood that sticks with you for life. We asked parents if they could think of any weaknesses. ‘Yes,’ they answered resoundingly. ‘It doesn’t have a senior school!’ This is the ultimate country prep.